Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates 25 Years In Orbit
GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ)--25-years-ago today, the Hubble Space Telescope rocketed into orbit, and has been re-writing science ever since.
Alex DeMetrick reports, it's also produced a universe of amazing images.
When it first went into orbit, no one was sure what the Hubble Space Telescope would find.
In the 25 years since, science has been racing to keep up with what Hubble has been finding.
"It's got a very broad scientific range, but in every area it's making major breakthroughs," said Dr. Mark Clampin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Take something that can't be seen, like massive black holes. Hubble has unlocked evidence they are real and sit in the dense, bright centers of galaxies, including our own.
Looking out, it also looks back into time. To see the universe as it looked billions of years ago and spotted the first sign of planets in other solar systems.
"We've actually started measuring the composition of atmospheres of planets around other stars," Clampin said.
Scientific discovery isn't Hubble's only legacy.
"The Hubble images are so inspiring that we're really seeing a lot of young people get very engaged and interested in doing science and engineering as a result."
Hubble is controlled at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt and the images move on to the space telescope institute in Baltimore for study.
"Hubble images are a part of the fabric of our culture now. You see them in bookstores. You see them in museums, album covers, movies, TV. Wherever you look, it seems like there's a Hubble image lurking somewhere," Clampin said.
